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Theodore van Buren
Life in Former New Amsterdam Born the son of a wealthy Dutch noble, van Buren had always lived a sheltered life. At the age of 17 he inherited his father's estate, and lived a life of relative comfort. By his mid-20 he had invested his money in land, and was known as a landlord of ill-repute. He was known for being inscrutable bastard, when it came to maintaining his wealth. By his late 30's he had begun to dabble in the shipping industry. It was in this venture he acquired and enormous amount of wealth. He was the talk of the town, even one as sizeable of grand ol' New York. The Unlife of the Party One evening, at a soiree of the city's high society, Theodore's life changed for the worse. The event a masquerade ball was being hosted by an enigmatic arrival to the city. A rather affluential, and much talked about persona among socialites. Theodore in particular was summoned to have audience with the host. It would seem that this man Lord Cummings, wished to acquire Van Buren's assets. Albeit, in a rather indirect means. Among the Undead It seems, shortly after Lord Cummings sent his servants to fetch the Van Buren, that he was Embraced in the Lord's chamber in the very top of the mansion where noone could hear him scream. OF course not, the music was playing and the guest were having a "ball" so to speak. Upon Embrace, a physical changed happened to the once dashing Theodore. He became someone of a monster, hairless with pointed ears and a mein that would frighten children. This was indeed a Curse. Lord Cummings would go on to tutor the childe. Inducting him into the Invictus after his tutelage was complete. It was only a few short years before Lord Cummings vanished. Leaving the neonate to fend for himself. Meeting His Heir After a few decades of his Requiem in 1818, Theodore became disillusioned with New York and the Invicti contained therein. He aspired to make a name for himself, and figured California a fine place to do so. He was shipped to Los Angeles, in a container amongst one of his many cargo vessels. and cared for by his herd of ghouls. Setting himself in a recently built mansion, funded by his company, Theodore begin to capitalize on the growing city. He assumed the identity of his newly "discovered" child, heir to the van Buren fortune. When the gold rush of '49 struck he funded one of the biggest mining operations on the West Coast, The Bridgestone Mining Co. Around the same time Van Buren was bombarded with a great handful of legal troubles, due to misues of the mines occupants. This is when he met his future protege, Eli Rothstein. Eli whom was the new official van Buren legal representative. He was considered the best lawyer in his day. It didn't take long for Theodore to take a liking to him. And as soon as he found a replacement, Theodore Embraced the Councilor. And welcomed him into the Invictus as soon as he got over the connotations of his Requiem. Slumber Calls In 1889, van Buren finally willingly entered torpor after nearly a century of unliving his Requiem. At this time he had already achieved great status and done many things worthy of legendary status amongst the Invicti. He was revered as one of the first, ifnot the very first Invictus member to reside in the city. Here he established a powerbase, that caused others to follow the wealthy entrepaneur to seek out their own slice of power. Although he did not secure Los Angeles for the Invictus, his politicking and fortune kept them thriving. He would be the seed that would allow all other Invicti to flourish in the Southland. His money allowed them to vastly overpower the Sanctified. This of finance which was not without stragy and manuevering allowed him to be given the title of Marquis once there was enough Invicti to establish an Inner Circle and a pecking order. By use of proxy and careful planing he managed to get his peer Alexander Hunt to claim praxis, and with the title of Marquis awarded in 1885, after he had gotten his affairs in order he figured it a good time to hibernate. Awakened to the Sounds of a New Age Theodore awoke in 1933, after a short torpor. He awoke to find his affairs very much in order. As he experienced the new Los Angeles he was shocked to see what it had blossomed into. HE was reminded of the life he once lived and the Fog of Ages had only stunted his power subtley, but he had trouble remembering anything but living in Los Angeles as the Fog had ripped everything about his time before the Southland. He was fascinated by the age of the silverscreen, and once again delved into his deep pockets, with council from his childe Eli to invest in the boomin film industry. At that point, the movie producing team would host parties and reveled in the new industry as their parties once again attracted society's elite. Of course due to their appearance everything was done by proxy. After 3 years of teh lifestyle Lord Rothstein went into a short torpor in the winter of 1936. A Second Childe in the Family Two years after Rothstein went into torpor, van Buren would embrace again. During this time, Hollywood's dawning era, there was a world-famous actor named Gary Golden who worked for a studio owned by the Van Buren estate. One night during a wrap party hosted by the studio, Gary was asked to have audience the owner in his mansion. And in the same manner that he himself was Embraced, so did he do to Gary. Gary who like him was a very strapping man, indeed his nickname was "Gorgeous" Gary and he wasn't to pleased with the similar transformation that had befallen him. It wasn't just that he wasn't good-looking anymore, but the fruit of his labours was now taken from him at the height of his career. This was almost as unforgivable as the curse of vampirism that van Buren had passed to him. He fled from his "father" and hid where noone could see his monstrous form, which was far more hideous than either of his sire and his broodmate Eli Rothstein. Van Buren tried to contact his childe over many years but the neonate would have nothing to do with him. The End of a Cycle torpor 1987